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Orlando Hernandez visited his team’s locker room in Miami, where he could work with the team’s trainers.
As noted last night, Hernandez told reporters that he expects to make his first minor-league rehab start tomorrow in St. Lucie.
He is eligible to come off the disabled list on April 13.
…from what i can tell by looking at the schedule, the Mets can pitch Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey up through April 12, which is when they’ll need the fifth starter…it may make sense to just pitch Jorge Sosa or Nelson Figueroa that one day, seeing as hernandez will likely be activated the next day and not necessarily needed until the following week…
…in other words, it will be difficult to determine whether the Mets should try and acquire a free agent starting pitcher, like Claudio Vargas or Woody Williams, until they have seen pelfrey pitch, and also know how stable el duque is…which should work out fine, because i suspect all free agents will now wait with bated breath, knowing what just happened to Pedro Martinez…
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Can’t be seriously considering Woody Williams.
According to Rotoworld, he was going to retire after being released. I must be the only one that thinks we should call Jeff Weaver. He’ll probably come cheap, he’s younger, eats innings, and most importantly, he’s been healthy his entire career.
Interesting thought…I mean he is no worse than Opie was before Peterson got his hands on him
Oh yes he was. Jeff Weaver???? You have got to be kidding.
You’re right. I’m sorry. Woody Williams is clearly the better option. Even if he is filing for Social Security. Actually, maybe we can get Seaver or Ryan to come out of retirement. Or perhaps, if Jeff started spelling his name Weavero instead of Weaver, maybe then Omar would make the call. But you’re right, I’m sure Woody or Claudio Vargas will be equally as bad. Hey, at least we could bring in Dirty Sanchez when Woody needs to come out of the game…. entertaining box score if nothing else…
I’m sorry, let me be clearer. Jeff Weaver? No way. Woody Williams? No way.
My dislike of Weaver was not an endorsement of Williams.
Oh okay. My mistake. I really worried there for a minute.
To those many fans that kept begging Omar to sign Kyle Loshe
Look how wrong you were (LOL)
He sure would look good now
I put this on the other thread but here is what makes since to me.
Perez tomorrow
Maine Friday
Santana on normal rest Saturday
Pelfrey on Sunday
Perez on Tuesday home opener
Maine on Wednesday
Santana on normal rest Thursday.
To me that gives us the best shot to win the Braves and Phillies series.
I agree with that however that would have been my plan coming out of ST…
I dont think they will move Santana from Sunday because he’s been planning for that day. And Pelfrey has been planning for Sat.
Of course it means Pelfrey faces the Phillies and Santana the Brewers, but who’s to know if that is a good or bad thing so early in the season.
What happened to Steve Register. I know he was not protected, but has Colorado picked him back up or not? And if not, can the Mets go back after him?
He pitched good in the Spring and could be a big help, especially out of the pen if Nelson Figueroa is moved into the rotation.
Colorado picked him back up.
I just can’t get over that ANOTHER person is having problems with their legs, more specifically hamstring. It’s been whispered around here a few times and I have always dismissed it, until now. I am concerned with the training staff.
I defintely agree with your concerns. This seems to be a recurring theme. Apparently no one stretches much anymore, and not at all in between innings.
I watched the game last night, and to me for a professional athelete to pull a hammy doing what Pedro did is crazy. The number of pulled hammys the last two or three years with the Mets seems to be extremely high!
Yes, I agree and El Duque returned to Miami to work with the staff which will only mean he will get hurt sooner. The Mets need a new training staff. Schnieder, Castro, Pedro with Hammies. They frigged up Reyes a few years ago with some crazy running style.
Speaking of ElDuque…his brother is a Fatty McFat but he never gets hurt while ElDuque appears to be in great shape yet always gets hurt. Go figure?
The rotation needs to be played out as Matt noted above. The home opener cannot be started by Sosa or Figueroa.
Why not? Who cares about a home opener??? Just win games, that’s all that matters.
you can look at it 2 ways rogasm…
a “game 7 of the season” which is from a team prospective and from them doing their jobs
or from PR
“the last home opener ever at Shea stadium” granted its not the same allure as Yankee Stadium, but its a big deal…
PR will push for it to be someone like a perez or Maine..plus as noted in one of the above posts…if we go with a figueroa on Tuesday, that leaves Perez Wed and maine Thur, ….thats great and all to get 2 of 3 good starters but if we can get Perez on normal rest to start the opener, then Maine, on normal rest, followed by Santana on “normal” rest…
thats much better , considering we have The brewers coming in for the weekend..and yes..they are a VERY respectable team if not one of the best in the NL..but Phillies or Brewers…i’d much rather see Johan shut down the Phils
I agree, we need to skip the 5 spot right now to maximize what we do have. It would make our rotation look kinda funny but who cares. I would be Santana, Pelfrey, Perez, Elduque, Maine. Don’t come back and say Maine should be higher because he is not really the number 5 because we are skipping Elduque as much as possible.
Santana would pitch on normal rest on Saturday and Maine on Friday. That should put us in great position with Pelfrey going on Sunday hopefully for the sweep. If that plays out then we won’t need that extra man until the 12th, Sosa or Figgy gets that day and hopefully Elduque can come in then and give some innings.
If so we will only see Elduque on 19th, 24, 29 of this month. Pelfrey would have the 6, 11, 17, 22, 27. So thats 9 starts counting the one by SosaFiggy. Santana, Maine and Perez would each have 6,
haha SosaFiggy
What nationality is that?
good logic. Works for me.’
Now lets hope that WIllie or Omar (whichever one really has to) can figure it out also.
Unless they course they read metsblog comments, and already have the answer!
It makes too much sense not to do it this way, but then again, we are dealing with Willie here….
And get Pedro on the DL right away to get Figgy up so they have a spare long man, just in case (*cough – Pelf – cough*)
I agree. It’s exciting to have a home opener, and even a significant one. And if people are concerned about fans showing up, who is going to stay away because Sosa or Figueroa is pitching? Probably nobody.
Perez will pitch the home opener on an extra day of rest because of the two off days. There is no reason to hold him out longer than that except a healthy Pedro pitching (home) opening day.
Great idea. Lets get Woody Williams on board. Lets tack on another dinosaur old pitcher who is ineffective. Soon we can open up a nice little retirement home right next to Shea. The idea is to get better pitching…not more garbage.
Heres some news….Jorge Sosa has pretty good stuff. We saw it again last night. In fact, right now I’d say hes better than Pedro…and makes our rotation stronger, not weaker. 85 mph fastballs that get jacked, or 90mph sliders that fall off the table. You tell me.
Why can’t Sosa start opening day? Its just another game. All the Mets should be concerned with is winning. Not who starts opening day. If they get the W, I highly doubt anyone will care who started the ballgame….plus the fact that Sosa is good.
please read comments above…
the arguments for opening day are there… both from a who will pitch against philly and also the PR….
I don’t think anyone is on board w/ WOODY WILLIAMS but signing Vargas isn’t a bad idea for depth bro…
How many bad pitchers named Vargas can one team have?
eh PR whatever…..winning cures all, you know it. I know it.
Vargas isn’t a terrible idea for a plan B, but I’m just saying…we all discount Sosa, but I like him and his stuff. Having him become the 4th starter…IMO strengthens the rotation, more so than having Pedro.
All us fans, have to let go of the “Pedro” name. He once was great, hes a great guy….but he’s not a great pitcher anymore. Sosa in 2008 is better, so I say we slot him in there….go with Santana, Maine, Perez, Sosa, Pelfrey and focus on the offense. The pitching will be there, we need another stick.
I like Sosa as a starter, but the bullpen is taking a serious hit if he moves out of it. Sosa is so versatile as a pitcher, he’ll be hard to replace.
ok PR aside…
You can give starts next week against Philly to Perez, Maine and Santana
OR you can go with Sosa/whomever, Perez and Maine…
I’d say lets go with option 1.
Everyone else goes on normal rest, pelfrey goes sunday, with long relief being sosa and then the day off…
omar can’t possibly count on both duque being healthy and effective and pelfrey being effective. it was a gamble slotting this guys to fill one spot, it’s insane to slot them in two.
unless someone really thinks that sosa or figueroa is a viable choice to pitch 25 starts this year, we need to look elsewhere.
i know im going to get crucified for throwing this out there, but is it safe to say now that the Pedro signing was a bad move?? The guy is paid like an ace, and in the end will have one “ace” type season. This is exactly why no other team offered a 4 year deal to Pedro. Everybody bashes El Duque for getting hurt when the team needs him, but at least he doesn’t take up a huge chunk of the payroll. And the whole idea that Pedro changed the culture of the team and brought in other big players is bull. Beltran signed here bc the Mets offered a ton more than anyone else, same goes for Wagner, and Delgado was acquired in a trade. I’ve always felt that Pedro got a free pass because of his reputation and his goofiness, but I don’t think its warranted. Just my opinion
No but I think it did give us FMart?
I disagree. Pedro has also raised the Mets profile in the Dominican which was part of the player development strategy for the long term. A couple of kids have already said they signed with the Mets because of Pedro. Signing Pedro was a gamble but I think in the big picture a good gamble for more than on the field reasons. Besides if it is just his hammy, it is a long season and he will be back. I would be way more worried if it was a shoulder or arm injury.
I don’t think Pedro was a bad move, but I sure as heck think the Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos looked really bad then, and looks even worse now!
Bring in Vargas, just for depth. You have to assume that even if Sosa goes into the rotation, Vargas will be needed at some point.
I’d really consider Garcia for the summer if he is back and able to pitch. If Pedro is shaky, and we know El Duque is shaky and Pelfrey hasn’t exactly wowed anyone, we may need another alternative come the dog days.
Good call.
garcia is the move, and we can piecemeal at 5 it until he comes back
can barry bonds play first?
I just found the Mets righty platoon firstbaseman!!!
Ex-Mets: Julio Franco has signed with the Tigres de Quintana Roo to play first base in Cancun.
Actually I think this a problem for Pelf.
Pedro isn’t going to miss more than 2/3 starts and Sosa will be in the frame to step up in the meantime.
Sosa is much better than Pelf and if he wins a couple of games I see Pelf being demoted. El Duque would take the 5th starter job or more likely the long mans role in the bullpen.
I get the impression that they dont want to move Sosa from the pen as he is more valuable there. Same way they never started Darren Oliver in 2006.
Sosa will likely pitch the 2-3 critical mid-late innings whenever the 5th starter starts, and he can still pitch a day or two in between in short relief. It makes a good case to keep him in the pen.
They will miss Pedro, but if anything good comes out of this, I hope it’s the realization that they can’t pin all their hopes on older guys like Pedro and El Duque. If they re-sign Pedro after this season, I think it will be a mistake. Maine looks like he’s ready to fill the no. 2 spot after Santana at this point. They will likely have to pick up some pitching already as the season progresses.
In the interim, it could get a little hairy. I just don’t think Pelfrey is ready for prime time. In fact, I don’t know if he will ever make it as a big league starter. I see Jason Isringhausen or Rick Aguilera all over again–a guy that shows a lot of promise but just can’t string together some victories. He’s going to be a decent set-up guy or closer some day, but a starter he ain’t.
I think the best options to replace El Duque and Pedro in the rotation for now are Sosa, Heilman, and Figueroa. It really kills the bullpen’s effectiveness, however, to move Sosa or Heilman out of it. I think that Pelfrey can be groomed into the Heilman role, and when or if Sanchez ever returns, he will help that situation as well, but Sosa is just so versatile. You can use him as a long guy or a situational righty, he’s got a rubber arm, and can legitimately hit. Figueroa seems like a good stop-gap option for the short term. He pitched brilliantly in the winter. I think he’s definitely good enough to be a bottom-of-the-rotation guy for the remainder of this season if need be.
I imagine that Figueroa will probably be the guy they stick in there at first, but if both Pedro and El Duque are gone for any extended period of time, they’re going to have to fiddle with the bullpen a little. Hopefully Sanchez will be ready by then.
I’m really not sold on Pelfrey though as a solution. I think they’d be better off swapping him in the bullpen for Sosa or Heilman, but you can’t really blame Willie or Omar for giving him every chance to prove himself. Personally, though, I think he’s already proven he’s not going to develop into a reliable starter. I’d rather send him back to AAA when Sanchez returns and have him work on pitching in relief with an eye to bringing him back up in September as a set-up man. Who knows… if he has success in that role, another team may want him as their closer and maybe we can get a starting pitcher in return. There’s just not a whole lot of good pitching out there.
small point regarding Figueroa. If he pitches well its not likely he would clear waivers. I’d hate to lose him for the year to get one start out of him. I’d hate for them to option Pelfrey down to keep Figs in the rotation with Duque.
If they can get to the 12th with a rested pen I would try to make it through that day with a Sosa led pen by committe. Save Figueroa for when we know Duque is shot and he can hold down the 5th spot for a while.